Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Subcity Radio / Wavy Graves - Vlek Promom!x

Vlek are three 30-year old boys who have spent the good part of the last 10 years promoting Belgian artists and music in various structures, Boups, Unrezt/Thin Consolation, Radio Campus Bruxelles, Radio Panik etc. In the summer of 2009 they decided to team up and create Vlek. According to Julien from the label “the first goal with the label was to try and give a few Belgian artists the exposition they deserved, we have so many great artists in this country”, they spent a year finding the funding to do that right, at the Wallonia/Brussels federation they found the financial support they needed, and thanks to a deal they locked with Köln's Kompakt they secured worldwide distribution too.

Deciding to make small runs of vinyl, all home-crafted with care, they came up with the idea of the split 7”s. These compilations of 7"s feature a Belgian and a better-know "international" artist on each side. The first volume featuring Cupp Cave & Dem Hunger sold out, only a few remain of the second featuring Squeaky Lobster & Lapti - you can hear both volumes on Soundcloud. The next pair of AMAI 7"s are out in the Autumn.

From Vlek this summer is Cupp Cave's Dice Pool, the cover was made with a letterpress, elbow grease and some 576 dice - you check the craftsmanship involved on their Flickr. Next week they are releasing an EP from Squeaky Lobster, consisting of his older tracks that badly needed an output on vinyl. It's called 'Will-o'-the-Wisp' and is available via their website - as is all their other releases.

Expect another 12" by Squeaky Lobster, and a 12" from another Belgian producer Sagat later in the year, but for now you can hear what the label is all about on this exclusive mix by Lowdjo featuring some of the label’s forthcoming releases.

Go HERE to listen to the mix (starts about 19 minutes far on the show)